In 2014, one hotel room in two belonged to a chain

Florent Favre, division Services, Insee

In Metropolitan France, 18,300 hotels hosted tourists. Nearly a quarter belonged to
a chain. These hotels were on average three times larger than the independent hotels,
providing half of the 650,000 rooms available in total. They are concentrated in urban
areas, where tourist numbers fluctuate less over the year. Nine chain hotels out of
ten were open year round, compared to four independent hotels out of ten. Rooms in
chain hotels also on average had a greater number of occupants. In the Paris metropolitan
area however, the two types of hotel were on an equal footing, on average filling
more than 75% of their rooms. In 2014, 80% of hotels were graded, most often as 2
or 3 star. Hotel occupancy was highest in August, the preferred month for leisure
tourists. Occupancy for business tourists, who represented 41% of overnight stays,
was at a maximum in June and September.